Ability to feel others' pain key to a united nation: Minister

New Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) Minister of State for Human Resource Development Upendra Kushwaha on Tuesday said the true unity of the nation will be sensed only when an injury to a person in Kashmir is felt by someone in Kanyakumari.

He was addressing the Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) school children gathered here from across the country for a three-day competition on the theme ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshth Bharat’.

“The main motive behind this exercise is not just that you (school children) become acquainted with each others’ culture, learn their languages… it feels good when someone speaks Oriya in Kashmir.

“It feels good when Bihar’s ‘litti-chokha’ is found in Punjab… but the feeling of true happiness will come when in case someone gets hurt in Kashmir, the pain is felt in Kanyakumari,” Kushwaha said.

“The kind of ‘shreshth’ (accomplished) India that we aspire for will only be possible when people living in different states will feel each others’ pain. We are waiting for that very day.”

A total of 1,250 KV students from 25 regions are here for the National Integration Camp being held at the India Gandhi National Centre of Arts.

On the first day of the function, the students sang songs and gave dance performances.

“The students are required to portray a state’s culture through posters, solo song, group songs and other activities. But student teams are only allotted the states to which they do not originally belong,” said KV Sangathan Chairman Santosh Kumar Mall.

He also said the students will soon be taken on a tour to the states they are representing to give them a chance to better understand their culture.

Exhibition, group dance, group song, English elocution, Hindi poetry reading, Sanskrit shloka recitation are among the activities which will be performed by the students during competition.

Before being selected to represent their school at the national level, the students had to compete in similar contests at the cluster and regional level.